New ombudsman relishes tough times

Commerce Commission high flier Deborah Battell is the new Banking Ombudsman.

Ms Battell, who is the commission's director of competition, is to replace Liz Brown, who will retire in July after 14 years in the job.

Ms Battell said she was looking forward to taking up the challenge at a time of unprecedented economic turmoil which has seen an explosion in bank customer complaints.

"The need for consumer confidence in the banking sector is particularly important in the current environment," Ms Battell said.

Complaints to the Banking Ombudsman increased 37 per cent in the last financial year, almost entirely due to complaints about investment advice.

Steep falls in mortgage interest rates also led to a flood of complaints about the cost of breaking existing expensive fixed-term loans.

"The office will be under increased pressure to deal with the large workload as efficiently as possible."

Ms Battell is a champion of industry self-regulation to raise consumer standards and had set her sights on an ombudsman's role in recent years.

The commission was focused on broader consumer issues that affected a large number of people, she said. Self-regulatory bodies, such as the Banking Ombudsman, are able to pick up on the issues for "the little person".

Ms Battell said her experience at the commission, including a stint as director of fair trading, had exposed her to a wide range of investigations, including banking ones.

She will take up the position on July 21.

- © Fairfax NZ News